Abstract Most favored nation clauses (MFNs) are commercial arrangements between the buyer and the seller, while the platform most favored nation clauses (PMFNs) are third party agreements. In the agency model of sales, the platform does not directly determine the commodity price, which is the origin of PMFNs, so there are no PMFNs in the wholesale model. PMFNs will lead to collusion effects and exclusive effects in market competition, which will lead to the increase of commodity prices. At present, the antimonopoly authorities in various countries generally analyze PMFNs under the system of monopoly agreements, which is a pragmatic approach, that is, they mainly consider the convenience and tradition of law application, rather than the nature of PMFNs. The system of abuse of dominance is also an essential approach to regulate PMFNs. When determining whether PMFNs are monopoly agreements, we need to pay attention to the influence of agency relationship. Both Europe and America have established the agency exception rule in the determination of monopoly agreements in case law. But the original intention of the rule is to exclude the determination of vertical restrictions in agency relationship, and only recognize the restrictions directly related to agency business. When the PMFNs constitute a part of a horizontal restriction or facilitate collusion between sellers, the agency exception rule has no scope of application. Moreover, the PMFNs are the restrictions of the agent.
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